Technology continues to advance at an exponential rate. Until recently, artificial intelligence, data-driven marketing, and voice search engine optimization were seen as ambitious, almost ridiculous, trends. Today, such trends are among the top priorities for most businesses in 2020.
The use of chatbots is an increasingly discussed topic. The digitization of processes has made users more autonomous and the use of automated chats based on artificial intelligence responds to the users ‘ need for immediate feedback from the company.
Getting information, choosing a product, paying a bill, making a complaint or requesting technical support will be fast and automated. The use of a chatbot is especially useful when the company wants to improve its customer care, optimizing the customer support process more efficiently and in progressively shorter times .
For now, users continue to prefer human interaction and use chatbots for simple requests. But what will happen in the future? A growing market, particularly in the US, is expected to exceed $ 1 billion in 2025, according to analysis by Grand View Research . The goal is to fully integrate the use of chatbots into daily life to improve the user experience, increasing users’ trust in automated tools for both basic and more delicate operations.
Augmented reality and interactive content
When we talk about augmented reality (AR) we mean any digital output (images, text, 3D models) superimposed on the surrounding environment , for example thanks to a smartphone, viewers or smart glasses.
It is a rapidly growing market, especially thanks to the numerous fields of application. According to statistics from MarketsandMarkets , the value of this sector will rise from 10 billion in 2019 to 72 billion in 2024. Some applications? Gaming (remember PokemonGO) and the visual sector (IKEA has developed an app that allows users to view the furniture in the home context even before buying it).
Augmented reality obviously has to be well crafted to look realistic in terms of size, definition and texture . To improve the user experience, two factors are fundamental: loading speed and ease of use . The target? Making the shopping experience unique and guiding the consumer to the conclusion of the sale.
Voice Technology
The world of voice technology is increasingly large and sophisticated and is changing user behavior. The concept of Voice Technology encompasses many facets: from voice search through search engines, to voice assistants like Alexa, through artificial intelligence and machine learning .
Interacting with a voice device without using your hands or eyes is becoming more and more common and the use of voice search or home automation accessories facilitate multitasking . Dialogue with voice assistants is now considered normal.
The voice search is definitely one of the top trends in 2020, if you want to know more you can read our article , with the benefits and changes in optical SEO. Closely linked to the development of voice search is the optimization of SEO for voice search, where the trend will be to be able to better interpret conversational queries.
It is still early to talk about voice commerce, but the need to find information as quickly as possible makes this trend one of the most promising.
Position Zero on Google
It goes beyond the first place in the SERP, the Zero position is the goal of many companies in 2020. But what does zero position mean? It is the result where Google automatically provides the answer to your search query in the form of a snippet : many users stop at the result in that position and do not go further.
The Zero Result dominates position one, which has always been coveted by those who deal with SEO and try to position themselves at the top of the SERP.
The need to quickly find the answers to our questions is contributing to the development of the zero position trend.
Social commerce
Social media have for years become an integral part of the online marketing strategy: Facebook and especially Instagram give you the opportunity to shorten the purchase process, reaching a wide audience.
Influencers have been collaborating with brands on social media for some time but the real innovation occurred in 2019 when Instagram added tap shopping . How do they work? If scrolling the home you see a dress you like, just tap to open the product sheet with the possibility of buying it, as in an e-commerce platform. Social networks, from a privileged place to get an idea of the trends of the moment and look for inspiration for future purchases, evolve by incorporating the next step: the possibility of buying in a few steps without having to leave the channel .
Given the worldwide penetration rate of Instagram, it is certainly an interesting innovation especially for brands with online shops.
Chatbot